I've been told that there is a country in europe where it is mandatory to have a firearm, and since everyone knows it, there is much less crime. They are discovering that where guns are completely outlawed, only outlaws have guns and are not afraid to use them or break into your car or homes. People who have guns illegally most likely don't have 'safety training' or care about safety, while someone who gets a permit has to have safety training, i'm assuming.
Eric, why don't you suggest to them that if no one had a gun, nobody would get shot. Or is that beyond their comprehension?
if you could 'outlaw' all guns, and that meant that everyone did not have a gun, then i might go for that, as long as i was allowed to have hunting firearm to procure venison each year. if citizens don't have a gun, the outlaws know they have free shot and will be more brazen. many random shootings are with illegally possessed firearms. remove all illegal weapons and then there would be no need for others to have weapons. many assume that 'making firearms illegal' will remove weapons and everyone will be safe; then the thugs who have no problem getting firearms would be the only ones who would have weapons, and their 'job' of stealing/mayhem/murder would be that much easier because they would not have opposition. if you want to prevent crime around your home, you put up lights, remove blind areas, lock windows (you make it harder and less palatable for criminal to want to head towards your home). if you want to invite criminal, make it easy for them to get to your house and inside undetected (examples). also they will feel more comfortable knowing that you 'don't' have a weapon to resist them... another prime example is national security; if a country has no standing army, no guns and things like that, then if they have aggressive neighbors they are asking the neighbor to cross the border and take whatever they want - no opposition. though nuclear weapons are ghastly, if a country has them then they are less likely to be attacked by another country, whether or not that other country has nuclear weapons themselves. it is the same with guns, sticks, knives or whatever. only if you are able to remove the aggressor's weapons can you then remove protective weapons from your own population. just because you wish for a peaceful world and want to blindly pass laws that 'seem to protect everyone by removing weapons', it doesn't make it so.. criminals/aggressors do not want peace and they can get all the weapons they want.
think about it... if you knew that everyone had a gun (in their home.. i would not suggest vehicles have guns that's just asking for trouble) you most likely would not break into that home, and you would be more polite. again, i only agree with having one secured in the home, not in car or public; just asking for trouble. ... can you imagine what would happen the next time people were clogging the aisles at walmart, or there is a rush for the door at a black friday shopping event? (shudder) or the last tickle me elmo doll on the shelf the day before christmas, and three people heading for it at the same time
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